As it relates to employment, the toll that COVID has taken on the unemployment rate around the country, as well as on the people who are now jobless with no recovery income is about much more than creating an inconvenient situation for those deemed too lazy to work.
Across the nation, states are beginning to reduce or remove unemployment benefits meant to provide relief during the pandemic. In Texas, the state dictator has decided to force jobless Texans back to work by taking away the additional $300 per week in federal aid.
Beginning June 26, all federal unemployment assistance programs in the state will end. Abbott has also said he plans to withdraw from Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. The program provides unemployment insurance benefits to self-employed individuals, and others who have not been covered historically. This guy has way too much power because he has made this change to the plan despite the thousands of Texas families who have been expecting to receive assistance through September.
While many Texans still struggle to make basic ends meet, Dictator Abbott's decision forces those same people to choose between a frenzied job search over the next few weeks which could yield no results or losing the money completely. Here's my question, will they get the funds if they DO find work? How does this decision help them, if that's not the case?
As idiotic as it is, Abbott would have the Texas public believe that the April 2021 unemployment rate of 6.7% is extraordinarily low. The truth is, it is higher by almost double than before the pandemic was in full swing.
Fellow Americans, we are NOT okay in Texas.
Elizabeth Thomas is an educator, writer, publisher, entrepreneur, and change agent. She has published three volumes of poetry and two children's books. You can find them at https://www.latterrainpublishing.com/online-store. She is also the Editor-in-Chief for Queen Things Online Magazine. latterrainpublishing.wixsite.com/queenthingszine.
Find Elizabeth on social media at: www.facebook.com/dueseasonwriters,www.instagram.com/essentialeme,www.twitter.com/essentialeme,www.linkedin.com//in/ethomasmpl/
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